In all his life Cloudhawk had had two women he counted as friends .

The Bloodsoaked Queen was the first . She was about his age, strong, tenacious, persistent and devout . Physically she could be called a peerless beauty, and even out in the elysian lands she was special . It was hard to speak of her without sounding overly keen . Still she had been hard to get along with . They were closer by the end, but there was always a distance between them .

Artemis was the second, a model wastelander in her twenties with all the bad habits that came with her upbringing . She was as loose as she was zealous, straight talking and stubborn . In a lot of ways she was inferior to the Queen, but she had been closest to Cloudhawk .

h.e.l.lflower did not possess the feral flavor of the wastelands, nor the delicate and flawless mark of the elysian lands . Hers was a unique style, like someone from those bygone days .

That was a little abstract . To be more specific she reminded Cloudhawk of the pictures he’d seen when he was a scavenger . He and the old man would gather them and pour over the images from that long-past era . h.e.l.lflower looked like she’d strode right out of one and into this lab . Her bearing, from the way she stood to her mannerisms and gestures, all spoke of poise and intellect . She was altogether different from both the wastes and the elysian lands .

Like looking out over a winding river, h.e.l.lflower’s beauty was inexplicable – unattainable . She looked back at Cloudhawk and sized him up while he looked at her, and in her eyes he could see doubt . She said nothing, but the slight contempt in her eyes made her opinions clear .

Consider the reputation of the Caliph of the Sands, what that beast had been . Asking her to believe this scrawny wastelander had killed a demon was like telling her an ant could eat five elephants in a single bite .

Hyena respectfully conveyed Cloudhawk into the room .

“We’re running low on samples for the Promethean Project . I’d like you to set aside some time to collect more . ” She picked off her gloves while she conveyed her orders to Hyena . She made her way over to Cloudhawk and stood before him . Her lithe figure was roughly 1 . 75 meters tall, half a head taller than Cloudhawk . She looked down her nose at him . “You’re a demonhunter?”

Cloudhawk looked at her carefully . She had a mature and attractive face framed by that peculiar silver hair that was fastidiously kept . Cloudhawk didn’t suspect she was strong physically, however her presence was nonetheless heavy-handed .

Cloudhawk answered her in his typical straightforward fas.h.i.+on . “Nope . ”

This took Hyena by surprise . “How could that be?!”

The shapes.h.i.+fter fixed Cloudhawk with a searching look . He saw a young man around fifteen or sixteen, scrawny from years of malnutrition . His rough wastelander features were revealed since his mask was removed, and a mop of long and messy hair sat atop his head . His face was crusted with either mud or dried blood, but in contrast his eyes were sharp and clear .

The dark grey cloak he wore was so dirty it might as well have been a blanket of filth . The trousers he wore were so tattered they could barely count as clothing . Almost every inch of skin that was exposed was wounded . The belt that held his pants up housed a handful of throwing daggers and a revolver, and strapped on his back was a crudely made wastelander’s rifle .  

Demonhunters didn’t use firearms . Everyone knew that .

The mystical tools they used were often far superior, and besides the guns and bullets of the wastelander were recovered from the ruins of ancient days . People of the elysian lands felt such things were evil and viewed as taboo . Demonhunters as well as typical folk were forbidden from touching them . Any member of the holy order seen traipsing about with one was in danger of being severely punished .

Hyena had never seen a demonhunter, but if they were all like this hobbling mess of a kid the elysian lands was no place to fear .

“So we’ve made an error?”

“Yup . I’m not a demonhunter, and I have something important I need to do . So if that’s it I’d appreciate it if you let me go . ”

Hyena’s melted features twisted into an awkward and irritated glower . “Ms h.e.l.lflower, this – “

The Academician’s a.s.sisted glanced at the exorcist staff strapped to the young man’s waist . Her lips slowly curled into a grin . With a quiet glance to Hyena the Seeker seemed to understand and dropped into a combat posture . He fixed the kid with hard, merciless eyes .

As the sense of danger washed over him Cloudhawk balked in surprise . “What the h.e.l.l is this?”

“The Academician was expected a demonhunter as his distinguished guest . If that’s not you…” Her lilting voice was easy as though she were speaking with a friend over a cup of tea . She made her way over toward a sink and dipped in her slender fingers as she continued . “I do happen to be short a test subject for this compound . ”

This hateful woman!

As Hyena came swooping down on him his body rapidly changed . Once again that coa.r.s.e black hair slithered from his pores and he became half man, half dog amidst the sound of popping joints . He groped for the boy with claws several inches long at incredible speed .

How fast was this mutt!

Cloudhawk didn’t have time to grab his staff or draw a gun . He only had time to dodge to the side, whereupon he vanished from view . h.e.l.lflower, though her back was turned as she washed her hands, seemed to know something happened . Her lips spread in a small smile .

Hyena was stunned at the suddenness of his disappearance, but only for a moment before finding his target again . He dropped on all fours than launched into the air like a spring . His right hand reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed something from seemingly empty air .

“Let go!”

Cloudhawk involuntarily s.h.i.+mmered back into view . His throat was caught in Hyena’s iron grip and he knew the shapes.h.i.+fter could crush his larynx with the slightest effort .

How did the guy do it? Until now no one had been able to pick him out of invisibility so easily .

h.e.l.lflower turned back around to regard Cloudhawk . “Hyena’s nose is keener than a bloodhound . He could find you from the scent of your wounds . ”

Cloudhawk scowled . Smell, then? The invisibility cloak could mask sight and sound, but moving caused blood to drip from his wounds . For a creature like Hyena that was easy to track .

“Then I’ll make you let go!”

It was getting harder to breathe, his vision was becoming hazy . In his anger the exorcist staff still kept on his waist awakened . It released a blast of energy toward Hyena’s head . It struck him and the Pathfander shoved the young wastelander away . Cloudhawk stumbled backward a few steps then caught his feet but not before aggravating his injured leg . He collapsed onto his backside, pale faced and gulping air .

“If you aren’t a demonhunter, why do you have a demonhunter’s relics?” h.e.l.lflower looked at him with eyes that seemed to know all . “Your weapon is an exorcist staff, standard armaments for the elysian lands . If you didn’t have the talents of a demonhunter you wouldn’t be able to use it – how do you explain that?”

Cloudhawk just scowled at her . He actually didn’t know how to explain it .

“He has to be a demonhunter, without a doubt . ” Hyena slowly returned to human form . “Only he is pitifully weak . I’ve never fought the Caliph of the Sands, but I suspect he was much stronger than me . If he really did fight the demon there was no way he would survive . ”

“That’s one explanation . There are other demonhunters out in the wastelands . In fact half a year ago I learned there was a particularly talented one who came from the elysian lands who was searching for the Caliph . If he is truly dead, my suspicion is that demonhunter was the one who did it . ” Her voice was gentle and calm . It was as though the violent encounter hadn’t happened at all . “This boy, however…”

“The both of you are woefully disrespectful . ” Suddenly a quavering and hoa.r.s.e voice interjected . Its owner was an elderly man in white who hobbled along with the help of a cane . He approached, flanked by two robust lizard guardians . “He is our guest . Why are you making things difficult for our young friend?”

Immediately Hyena’s face dropped its fierce expression and he bowed low at the waist .

h.e.l.lflower, in contrast, never changed the indifferent look on her face . However with the appearance of this old man she promptly shut her mouth, visibly restraining herself .

The wrinkled and una.s.suming old man was perhaps only about 1 . 5 meters tall, even Cloudhawk was a head taller .

The geezer could have easily been a hundred as seventy or eighty . He was so emaciated he looked like skin stretched over bone, and he tottered along as though he might topple over any moment . He kept his balance with the help of his cane . Spa.r.s.e white hair sprouted around his head but a bald spot had claimed most of the territory . Rheumy eyes peered at them from behind thick gla.s.ses . His already frail form stopped visibly, like he had one foot in the grave . Was this half-dead geezer the Academician? The leader of the Seekers?

In all his experiences through the wastelands Cloudhawk knew that a leader had to be strong . This old man looked like he’d be bested by a strong breeze, yet the likes of Hydra and h.e.l.lflower worked diligently for him . It was certainly unexpected .

“You’re the Academician?”

“Actually, I have a name . ” The skinny fossil chortled at him and pushed his gla.s.ses up on his nose with knotted fingers . “You can call me Roste . ”

Cloudhawk got the sense that though this Academician Roste was the leader of the Seekers, he was exceedingly gentle . He had the bearing of someone who had experienced much in his life .

“And the reason you brought me here…”

“Young man, don’t be in such a rush . ” Roste stopped so relieve himself of a few feeble coughs . He didn’t appear to be in the best of health . “I know you’re in a hurry to get something done, but as far as I can tell the whole wasteland is out to kill you . If you leave here now you’ll only be trudging toward your death . Don’t you agree?”

Cloudhawk couldn’t saw he was wrong .

“Blackwater Base is very safe, you can hide here for a while . Now that the Caliph is dead no one would dare to trouble us here . ” The Academician looked Cloudhawk over . “You may discover that you’ll learn a lot if you stay among us . Of course there are also some things we will need your help with . I hope we can a.s.sist one another . ”

Cloudhawk thought for a moment .

The old man Roste made a good point . Continuing his journey now with no friends and potentially thousands of enemies would be difficult, to say the least . What would be the harm in staying here for a little while, out of sight? At the very least these Seekers were very interested in him, though Cloudhawk wasn’t sure if that was a good thing . At any rate if they really wanted to keep him here it was too late for Cloudhawk to resist . It made more sense to keep calm and capitulate .

“Hyena is my most loyal agent, and h.e.l.lflower is my most competent a.s.sistant . If you should need anything you can bring it to them . ” His words were interrupted by another series of coughs . The effort made him weak . The old man waved to those around him . “You lot tend to his wounds . ”

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